Ag News: Food Stamp Loopholes

**Closing food stamp loopholes will NOT unfairly penalize children in the school lunch program. That’s according to a new report from the Foundation for Government Accountability.

The report states over 99 percent of school-aged kids on food stamps would remain eligible for the school lunch program if food stamp loopholes were eliminated.

BBCE, or Broad-based categorical eligibility is a welfare loophole used by states to get around income and asset limits, leaving millions on food stamps who exceed the thresholds.

Because receiving food stamps also makes individuals eligible for other nutrition programs, critics worry about the impact of eliminating BBCE.

**If meat is grown in a lab without slaughtering animals, what should it be called?

That’s the question pitting animal rights advocates and others against cattle ranchers in a war of words.

Agweb.com reports supporters of the science are embracing "clean meat" to describe meat grown by replicating animal cells, but conventional meat producers are irritated and want to stamp out the term before it takes hold.

**China placed a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on multiple U.S. goods, including sorghum. The tariff also applies to U.S. soybeans, cotton, wheat, vegetables, beef, pork and others and goes into effect July 6th.

According to agrimarketing.com, the new tariff will bring higher prices for Chinese consumers who purchase over half of U.S. sorghum exports.